


BFT (Big Friendly Titan)

by CursedObjects



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 104th Trainees Squad - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eren Lives Outside the Walls, Eren Yeager/Levi (possibly), Everythings fine until Eren arrives, How Do I Tag, Human Eren Yeager, M/M, Military Police, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, Rating May Change, Special Operations Squad - Freeform, Squad Levi - Freeform, Titan Eren Yeager, Titan Shifters, Titan-Haired Eren Yeager, a little ooc, basically everyone - Freeform, everyones alive, follows the anime mostly, golden eyed eren, i lost what chapter number i was up to on the manga, idk - Freeform, ill tag as i go along, im a slow uploader, it will have violence, maybe smut, non-frequent uploads, so im not up to date on the manga, still going to tag it, survey corps, titans are weird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-22 16:51:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3736414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CursedObjects/pseuds/CursedObjects
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I saw something within him, something human. I’ve never seen that expression on a titan before, so I had to investigate. see it up close. But I know what I saw was definitely curiosity”</p><p>A story where Eren has lived his entire life as a titan and during the fall of Wall Maria ends up inside the walls, stuck as a human who has no knowledge of how to be a human. SNK Canon Divergence AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting a fic up about SnK, I've been a huge fan since it started and i thought that I should contribute. this originally is from FanFiction.net 
> 
> My lovable Beta is WornAndOneWinged. 
> 
> also, when Eren talks in titan form (because he can) its in bold capitals, just FYI...

Eren had been roaming around the grounds for a while now, taking no notice of the beautiful scenery around him. He'd seen it a hundred times and was frankly sick of it. It was the same thing every day, the same trees and the same hills. The other titans weren't much entertainment; always focused around the large 50-metre tall walls that protects the "humans." Eren had never seen a "human" before. Being young, he hadn't lived long enough to actually see a "human" and only his imagination could provide the images.

He imagined them as weird beings, probably short, maybe two or three metres tall. Perhaps they don't have any limbs or an obvious weakness that would make them so vulnerable, to make them hide behind the wall. If anything, he imagined them as hairless and ugly creatures that have no bones, a slop of skin and muscle tissue, something along the lines of a slug or a snail without a shell. His imagination wasn't advanced.

Eren lacked experience compared to the others– as the other titans were much, much older – automatically putting him at a disadvantage. Sure, his physical appearance was much different from the others, with their protruding bellies that made them seem obese, which is ironic because they hadn't eaten anything in more than a hundred years. His body was lean and tall, with long brown hair that was unkept and messy. In relation to food, Eren hadn't eaten before; never really found the need – he doesn't have digestive organs, but the want to devour remained.

He had an abnormal intelligence, making interaction with the others challenging because his intellect didn't see the point in communicating in the so-called language the titans conversed in.

To the others Eren was – to put it bluntly – an outcast.

While the titans with a hint of brain power would moan over not being about to break through the wall, Eren would earwig on their conversation – if you could call it that – albeit awkwardly, because he could only understand a few words but he is getting better. Eren was always bored, having a rather dull existence, never really understanding anything around him. He liked to intimidate and bully the smaller class titans to pass the time, but even this became a boring task. Eren didn't have any acquaintances and this group of titans are not the sharpest tools in the shed. But this population of titans was all he has known since he could remember.

He heard mumbled words discussing the "humans" on a relatively warm spring day. Usually he would listen upon the low noises until it got dull and he decided that he would take a stroll.

The lush green shrubbery and blooming flowers were almost impossible to see from his height and therefore he ignored them as he daydreamed until he rebounded from a large obstacle. Eren awoke from his stupor and studied what was in front of him. A large white wall, at least three times his height.

It was the infamous wall the others bragged about.

It was a grand thing, strong and – despite its age – well cared for. He saw that the wall was slightly rounded until he remembered the others saying it was in a circular shape. He looked up and noticed that it must have been in the afternoon with the sun setting in the west and with the sun facing him he could tell he was at the southern area of the wall. He placed his oversized hand against the hardened rock and surprised at how solid it sounded when he knocked against it. He placed his pinkie against the wedges of cement that held the two large white bricks together. Curious, he sniffed it and coughed as he inhaled a piece of crumbled cement, getting it lodged in his throat. He snorted and spat out the intruding piece of alien material.

In the distance he heard a ringing noise in a repeated rhythm, bing bong, bing bong. He heard it again and again. He followed the sound and he picked up that the noise was coming from behind that grand wall. It was a tocsin, a warning, but for what? In the distance he saw a silhouette of something that was on top of the wall. Whatever it was he was astonished that he could see it. It was small – minuscule – like it could fit in the palm of his hand. As he walked closer, he could tell that it had the shape of a titan, two arms and two legs.

Then he heard it. The sound of – well he didn't know.

He turned spotting a couple of horses, no a herd. There were hundreds of them. They were all heading in the same direction and being led by multiple silhouettes. But wait, they weren't invisible creatures like that one that was on the wall, they were closer and looked more titan-like. 'Were they the 'humans'?' Eren thought, as he stared and watched them ride the horses, intrigued. 'They look so much like titans though'.

Impulsively he ran towards them, not thinking of the possible outcomes of his actions. 'I'm not going to hurt them or anything,' he thought. As he approached, almost thirty metres away a black cloud of smoke rose into the air. He paused as he tried to comprehend what that meant, until a close slash to the base of his neck provided him with the answers. Luckily the 'human- titan-thing' didn't cut in deep enough to kill him. The adrenalin pumping through his body forced him to move and run away in the opposite direction of them. They didn't follow him.

 **"THAT WAS FAR TOO CLOSE,"** he grumbled, **"THEY COULD HAVE KILLED ME."**

He watched as a carving on a gate lifted and the human-titan-things on the horses entered, not giving him a second glance.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I thought I should put this up.   
> Thanks all of you!
> 
> Beta'd by WornAndOneWinged

Although Eren was a capricious, antisocial titan, who was far more independent, and more intelligent than the others in his coven of titans. A coven rarely had a leader, a chief of sorts. But the coven Eren lived in was one of the rare exceptions. He was ancient, incredibly old and wise, but unlike the others with their pot-bellies, he was emaciated. Skin and bone, cracked skin and wrinkles that it was so unusual. This titan goes by the name Alder. He was threatening, despite his appearance, but Eren trusted the titan. He hardly moved from his spot in the dead grass that dried out from the blistering heat from the summer sun. This titan was only a seven-metre class.

News spread after his encounter with the humans. he was rather confused about the reaction that it ignited, as he noticed an ample amount of titans were scurrying the outskirts of the wall.

Alder explained the humans to Eren, confirming his earlier thoughts. But Eren would keep a safe distance, risking another attack that occurred the last time he was near the walls. Ever since the attack from the humans, Eren has been feeling disquieted. The human that attempted to cut his neck had woken him up from his inquisitive stupor. An incessant irritation in his nape, began since that blade had grazed his skin.

* * *

The itching had only continued, constantly rubbing the palm of his hand against his nape to cure the irritation had only made it worse. He tried to put his head in the pond but it was too shallow. A lake was close by but it was too close the wall for his comfort.

_Itch, itch_

_Itch, itch_

_Scratch_

_Itch, itch_

He ended up at the lake, dipping his head in and getting his greasy hair wet, cooling him now from the hot heat. But nearby were large trees that if he pulled his knees to him he could hide from the sun. Unlike the others, Eren preferred the shade and was probably the most active at night. Many were in a comatose-like state when the sun disappeared. The night was more boring than the daytime because he was all alone, none of the animals were around. Eren liked the night, but he had overhead another titan saying that was when he tended to come out the most, because the other titans were comatose. It made him afraid of the darkness, as if they might surround him and end him. He subconsciously rubbed his neck and stayed with the coven that night.

* * *

The blistering heat trapped them in a suffocating hug. Chapped lips, dehydration, dry mouths and parched tongues, sealed the deal. The survey corps, for the first time in humanity's history, might die of non-titan related deaths. They only needed to catch one titan to check if Hanji's hypothesis was correct.

Of course, resources are limited. Many horses died of dehydration and the survey corps would have fallen back if it wasn't for a discovery of a coven of titans a few miles outside of wall Maria and the Shiganshina district. Only a small coven, ten at the least, but that was before the dawn of night. Many hundreds came from all random areas, all ranging from five metres to fifteen metre classes. The survey corps had spilt up into three groups: one for finding camp, another to find water, and another large group to keep watch over the coven.

The large coven, almost humanly, gathered their things and started falling asleep one by one. One of the 15 metre classes, unexpectedly stayed up the longest and Hanji watched him intently. He was unlike the other titans in this coven. He was one of the tallest, and by far the fittest. This titan showed human emotion far more than the others and seemed to be deep in thought as the others slept peacefully without interruption. A look of unsettlement was on his face, from what was unknown. Hanji looked in wild fascination as this titan looked around the sleeping or perhaps unconscious coven in curiosity and slowly - as to not to wake the others - stood up and quietly walked away from the coven.

A solider on Hanji's right who was also watching the 15-metre class wryly, eyes narrowed and sharp, obvious distrust in his eyes, walked toward Hanji. "Sir, are we not meant to kill any titan who leaves the certified area, unless telling the surrounding groups that a titan might be headed in their direction?"

"No, he's not going in the camps direction, but do keep a keen eye out."

He nodded and left to alert the others. Hanji watched him leave in silence.

* * *

Eren was uncomfortable. The feeling of anther titan's eyes on him was unnerving him, making him want to hit them across the face. He grumbled. He heard a shuffling to the right, a whirring. He sharply turned to growl at the idiot that thought to annoy him, only to be surprised by the absence of anyone. Either someone was messing with him or he was over-thinking things. It had been a while since his encounter with the humans and he was told that they rarely came out from the wall. Only to retreat back inside the wall within a few hours or a couple of days. Surely, it wasn't a human. Then again, that was the first time he had heard that sound in a while.

Suddenly, it felt a lot darker and the moon wasn't bright enough. He wanted the sun back. The sound of a twig of a branch breaking made his head turn. His eyes widening as he screeched spotting a human not more than a few metres away.

* * *

When the Survey Corp had finally set up camp, had the horses fed and marked out who was going to stay guard during the night. Petra came up to Captain Levi looking rather confused and looking around, tilting her head as if she was looking for someone.

"Heichou, have you seen Hanji?"

"I thought she was back already."

She shook her head, "I can't seem to find her and her horse isn't in the stables and no one has seen her."

"Last I heard-"

A scream, loud and piercing, echoed across the camp. Many men tensed at the raising scream that started to sound more like a screech. A sound familiar to the captain who had heard many screams from desperate mothers looking for their children who didn't make it back.

"Shitty four eyes, what she done now?"

It sounded desperate, a curl of a threat as if the scream would scare off any predators. Then it abruptly ended. An eerie silence hung over as a rumbling feeling came from the north, towards the trees. Then a feeling more like an earthquake spread throughout the campsite as a loud thump sounded.

Levi, along with those of his squad, rushed to where the sound originated. The sight before him was not one he was expecting to see when he arrived. A titan ·a 15 metre class ·cowered near the tallest and branchless tree, knees pulled up close as possible to his chest. Hanji was standing nearby holding a lantern with a look of awe on her face and a smile of glee that was normally plastered on her face whenever it came to titans. That was when he realised it had gotten dark on the way here and that Hanji had intended to stay for long time. Stupid glasses was intending on this.

When she took a step forward, raising the lantern to get a better look at the unusual titan, the 15 metre class pulled his legs impossibly closer and released a loud grumble that ended with a threatening growl.

" **GO AWAY."**

But Hanji didn't heed the titans warning, and Petra to the right of him a metre below yelled. "Hanji! Be careful, he might attack!"

Levi highly doubted that, that titan looked like he would rather run to his mother than start a fight. Oluo and Eld pulled out the blades and the light from Hanji's lantern reflected off the metal of their blades and the titan put one of his hands at the back of his neck, defensively. If the titan had lips he could only imagine they would be pulled back in a snarl. When the light reached the titan's green eyes and brown hair was when Levi recognised the titan. It was the titan Gunther tried to kill only to miss.

This is the titan that ran towards the valley beyond the tree line and didn't attempt a defensive attack. This titan was an aberrant. His actions were unpredictable, he must be killed before he may attack them all.

"This is the closest I've been to a titan that's alive!" Hanji said, but it seemed more like she said it to the titan than anyone else. She slowly raised her hand, clearly visible to the titan, and slowly approached him.

"Hanji!"

She didn't listen. She slowly reached the titan, touching the part where his foot meet his leg. Levi pulled out his blade. Knees bent. Ready for the slightest movement. But it never came.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry this was suppose to be up last week, but I forgot! Thought I should post this now, since I have the time!!  
> This is beta'd by WornAndOneWInged. give a shout out to her,  
> The next chapter should be out in 2-3 weeks so...  
> Please tell me if there is any problems or consistences!  
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

"Levi!" Hanji pulled the reigns of her horse to signal it to move forwards as she neared squad leader Levi. They had only just come back from their latest expedition and Levi internally groaned from seeing the shit-eating grin plastered on the scientist's countenance.

"That titan allowed me to touch it. Did you hear me Levi, touch it!"

Levi hummed, not paying attention to what the rambling scientist was saying, as they entered the inner parts of Shiganshina District. A crowd of people hoarding around them, some giving dirty looks as whisper of 'how many died this time?', 'They're just wasting our taxes fattening them up'. Levi gave Hanji a sideways glance. She was still talking. That's highly unusual as Hanji is normally silent when first entering the walls. That titan had that kind of effect on her.

"– I have so many new hypotheses – You're not even paying attention to me, are you Levi?"

He turned to look at Hanji who had slowed down as the people ahead had probably came across a loved one or a stupid citizen who thought that his useless and very unnecessary comment should be heard. "That thing was filthy. It was probably carrying diseases. For Maria's sake it burned you, but let me guess, you don't give a shit?"

The grin impossibly widened and her eyes sparkled as she cooed, "It looked like a kicked puppy, curled up like that"

"Just with halitosis, more teeth and less humanity," he growled as she continued talking about that damn titan like it was a prized piece of artwork.

"Everything's so negative with you," she said as her face slowly became serious. "You saw that titan as well, you could see emotions, he even looked as if he was capable of thoughts."

Levi said nothing as the line in front of him started to move and he ushered his horse forward. He could still hear the muffled angry voices ahead of him. 'So that's who has been holding us back,' he thought. He kept his eyes forward as much as possible, he already knew what was showing on their faces.

"But still, Levi, it's an abnormal."

"Exactly the reason to why you shouldn't have gone near it," Levi muttered.

Hanji sighed, "Look I know what I did was a gamble–"

"You risked unnecessary lives. That could have easily turned into a bloodbath."

Hanji placed her hand on Levi's shoulder, making him slow down, glaring at her with blank eyes. "Okay, I get it. I've heard it all from Erwin. It was dangerous–"

"And stupid"

"– And stupid but I saw something within him, something human. I've never seen that expression on a titan before and I had to investigate, see it up close. But I know what I saw was definitely curiosity."

Levi sighed, pushing her arm off his shoulder, and he remembered. He remembered well, the emerald green eyes that stared at him with awe and curiosity. The body tense and stiff as he was poised to attack but the way his body was sitting, was definitely defensive. The titan had its third eyelids close briefly before he spotted Hanji on the ground near the titan's feet. The titan looked like it shat itself when it saw her and how close she was. Levi was expecting the titan to grab her or attack her but it cowered more into the tree, wrapping its arms around its knees drawing his legs closer to him and further away from Hanji as he let a burst of steam from his mouth.

The titan looked up at Levi and the others on the trees looking at them then back at Hanji and from Levi's view the scientist was trying to look as small and nonthreatening as possible. It seemed to work as the titan appeared to look like Hanji was not about to kill him and relaxed a little. Then the shit-for-brains scientist hesitantly set her hand out to touch the titan's foot.

"The whole thing is off," he frowned as he was close to the gateway into Wall Maria.

"No the thing that confused me the most was that he was pretty calm after he seemed to get the idea that I wasn't a threat, then that sound..."

Levi's frown deepened, "The damn thing looked like it had a heart attack when it heard it. Like he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to."

"Caught red-handed," she muttered as she nodded her head grimly.

* * *

" **EREN!"**

When Eren heard his name being shouted loudly, he froze. He was pretty sure the horror had blanched onto his face as the humans seemed to notice the loud growl.

If Alder saw him with the humans... he didn't want to imagine it.

He would likely stomp on the human with his foot and probably eat the ones in the tree. It was then that he realised he had been out too long. Alder got angry when he was out too late. The humans looked more frightened them him, he didn't understand why though. Alder was calling for him. He quickly decided he should get back to Alder before he started looking for him.

He slowly got up from the tree, being careful of the metre class by his foot and tiptoed his way towards the source of the sound until he got enough distance from the humans so that he wasn't going to step on them. He looked back briefly and saw two humans land to communicate with the other. As he turned to take a step back, he noticed that they looked at him as if they thought he had left. The shorter one looked at him blankly and pulled out the long reflective material he had seen when they attacked his neck. He placed his palm over his nape instinctively. He saw the human's eyes widen slightly, he frowned at the other humans' suspicious look.  **"WHY–"**

" **EREN!"**

When Eren heard Alder's shout, a little louder this time, he left without another thought. When he arrived at the outskirts of the plain, he spotted Alder. The 10-metre class was eyeing the area around him, obviously trying to find him.

" **YES ALDER,"**  Eren moved his arms, patting his chest as he said,  **"YOU CALLED."**

Despite the 5-metre difference between them he grabbed Eren's arm in a bone-breaking grip. Alder's free hand motioned to the trees,  **"WHERE WERE YOU? YOU KNOW IT IS NOT GOOD TO BE OUT AT THIS TIME."**

Eren motioned his hand to the back of his neck,  **"IT WAS HOT. I WANTED TO COOL DOWN"**

When Alder's face frowned and his face saddened, Eren asked **, "DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG?"** A huff of steam escaped from Alder's mouth as he let go of his arm. Expecting an answer, Eren stood patiently at the leader-of-sorts but he got was a backwards glance as he turned away.

Confused, Eren called out,  **"ALDER?"**

But the Titan had already succumbed to the black abyss of nothingness. It was then that Eren noticed that it had become dark and the pale brightness of the night sun had risen.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, but here is a longer chapter that is fresh off the printer! thanks for all the Kudo's!! and all the kind comments and support you guys are giving!
> 
> Enjoy the chapter and tell me if there is anything i have missed!!
> 
> Give thanks to my Beta WornAndOneWinged!!

Ever since that day things had begun to change in the clan, small, but noticeable. The times would start to change, normally relying on routine – Eren started to notice that certain titans would disappear for a few hours longer than usual, then some, all day. Although this was not normal, it was not unusual either. The biggest thing was the fact that most of the clan was out. Normally only a small group of about 8 – including Eren – left throughout the day, but now it was like vice versa, there were only about 7 titans remaining at the camp. Eren would've never spotted this if he wasn't told to stay with Alder.  
  
Eren was gone for the whole day normally, leaving early and arriving before the sun disappeared behind the forest in the distance. The only exception was normally if Alder would call him or the others if something was awry. In fact he hasn’t seen one of the 7 metre classes since he was told to stay with the clan.  
  
That was 4 moons ago.  
  
One of the more intelligent titans Hagen – as he was known by the others – was travelling towards the watering hole Eren typically stayed at. It was also the place he spotted the humans and since he was travelling in the area, maybe he or the humans were considered a threat and tried to kill each other. Eren didn't entertain the idea.  
  
When the fifth titan disappeared, the clan felt empty, a tense atmosphere was surrounding the camp and Eren itched to move. But each attempt ended with Alder commanding him to stay, even with every fibre of his body wanting to completely disregard his warnings he wasn't allowed to unless he fought Alder for the right.  
  
So, he sat and continued to do whatever task Alder or the others told him to do, which was when one of the titans came from the forest and walked right past everyone only to find an open area where he laid down and fell into unconsciousness. The titan was gone in the morning, the death in its replacement.  
  
By this time Eren was scared. Alder was too.  
  
He didn't leave the camp.  
  
The environment that once was small and insignificant was now towering and intimidating him. The forest seemed like it was cursed and sometimes the fluff in the sky would snake on the ground, scarring the crap out of him. The atmosphere was creepy and everything was silent, the birds were no longer chirping, the forest was dead with silence. Something was inside the forest that the animals didn't like.  
  
The animals didn't seemed bothered by the titans, as they typically didn't attack each other. In fact Eren hadn't eaten anything, and he felt his stomach ache with the emptiness but he hadn't felt the urge to fill it.  
  
There was a little shelter from the sun, a few trees that the titans liked to lean against when the darkness came, but the shade didn't seem to help him with his neck. He had told this to Alder that the back of his neck was incredibly hot and he couldn't stand it. Alder couldn't do anything for him as the closest body of water was beyond the forest.  
  
The phantom-itch was gone but now it was replaced with a constant throbbing, it was agony when he put pressure on it and the heat would only intensify. Eren didn't like the idea but when the phantom-itch from his neck spread to his face, he felt like he needed to go to the body of water.  
  
Forest be damned, he could not wait this out.  
  
The pain only got worse and he knew he had to disobey Alder if he wanted to be relieved of the pain.  
  
It almost felt like it wasn't his neck but in it.  
  
Eren got up from his currently shaded spot, groaning at the skin tightening over his neck uncomfortably. He moved towards in the direction of the watering hole when he heard Alder call him. Eren ignored him and continued into the forest when he felt Alders hand grip his bicep.  
  
**“EREN DO NOT,”** he heard Alder yell. Eren attempted to pull his arm from Alders grip, not caring if his muscles were squeezed uncomfortably under his hold. **“DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. IT IS TOO DANGER–”**  
  
Eren snarled angrily, he wasn't a baby. He could take care of himself. He forcibly ripped his arm from the seven metre and growled, an enraged treat forming on his tongue. **“I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! I DON’T NEED YOU!”**  
  
**“EREN IT’S DANGEROUS AND PEOPLE ARE DISAPPEARING. IM TRYING TO PROTECT YOU!”**  
  
Eren pushed against Alders chest, knocking the elder to the ground with a loud vibrating ‘thump’. Steam rising from his mouth Eren glared at the shorter titan. **“KEEPING ME HERE IS NOT HELPING ME!”**  
  
Alder made eye contact with Eren and he continued to glare at the elder, not caring that he was making a loud signal that he was bluntly disobeying him. Despite the feeling he had to move his eyes away from Alder’s he stood his ground. He didn't care how long he had to keep eye contact. He knew if he won, he would be able to relieve himself of the unbearable heat that got to the point where his mind felt foggy and his body was barely movable. This would finally end the agony.  
  
He didn't know how long it took, but Alder finally dropped his gaze and he immediately blinked his dry eyes. He tried to keep the pride from reaching his face. He had won, he could finally leave. Alder got up and looked up at him with concern but didn't try to keep Eren. He already won the right.  
  
He turned and entered the forest without another thought.

* * *

When he got close he could smell something that cleaned his nostrils. He snorted and tried to cover his hand as the stench was overloading his senses. He was afraid of what he would see, but he knew something was dead and by the smell he could tell it was many. When he entered the area he immediately saw the redness and the scattered limbs. They obviously belonged to the humans or an incredibly small titan.  
  
But Eren knew that the limb would have disappeared from existence by now if it belonged to someone like him. For some strange reason this didn't seem to happen with humans. There was more than a dozen bodies, if he guessed correctly. They are all wearing the same cloth those humans were but the faces he saw weren't those ones. For that, he was thankful.  
  
It was clear that a titan probably came through when they were here and attacked them. He could still smell some of the steam. Although they have probably been here a while, it was obvious that there was more as some of the carnivorous creatures had been picking at the scattered limbs littering the area. None of the animals were around the stench of blood that must've been keeping them in hiding. That might be why the forest was so silent.  
  
When he noticed the slightly reddish water he knew that this didn’t happen on accident. Hagen was around this spot more than a few moons ago, more than nine. Hagen relied on his sense of sight – like many do – and the humans were probably back and they attacked him. The scent might have caught on to other titans. And slowly one by one they left. Eren probably smelt it too, but the scent from another titan arriving at the camp and the smell of death covered the smell the humans made.  
  
Humans were very intelligent, he would’ve guessed that they wouldn’t come from behind their safe wall, all the way here for nothing. Obviously something caught their attention. And from the reaction he got, titans normally attacked humans. Eren was mostly likely the reason they came back. He felt something wash over him, a feeling he didn’t particularly like as he felt really bad. He was most likely the reason these humans died.  
  
He collected some of the limbs and tried to take them to a young tree and placed their bodies in a little hole he made where they would give nutrients to the trees. He ignored the feeling in the pit of his stomach has he did so. He wouldn’t use them to fill the emptiness.  
  
By the time Eren had finished doing this to each human limb, he could feel the energy fading from his body as the sun disappeared. He knew he wasn’t going to make it back in time before he would go unconscious. He was surprised that Alder hadn’t called for him. That was until he remembered that he was on his own.  
  
He went to the lake and cupped his hands into the brownish water, letting it go over his neck. The relief was immediate and he did this multiple times, scrubbing his face to help with the itchiness. The pain faded slightly to just an annoying throb but it was still there. Inside his neck, he was tempted to just to rip his skin to have some of the cooling air into his muscle. But he knew that was incredibly dangerous. So he decided that he should go lie down and rest.  
  
He lay against a tree and succumbed to the void.  


* * *

Eren didn’t really know what woke him up from the void or how it happened. Typically it was a slow progression from semi-consciousness to full complete conscious. But this morning a loud bang of lightning echoed throughout the land and the ground vibrated against the force of it. Eren woke up immediately, he scurried to his feet and tried to clear his vison as he looked towards what woke him up.  
  
He immediately froze. He thought that a loud lightning storm was overhead but the absence of clouds and the sun shining against his heated skin and he saw what woke him.  
  
A massive titan, easily a 50-metre class as it towered over the humans’ walls. He was amazed, that wall was over triple his size. The titan was deformed with an overlarge head and a potbelly and even walking weirdly, it was just huge. The titan had no skin as it placed its arm on the top of the wall and Eren was expecting the humans to attack but the lightning seemed to make the animals completely silent and cower in fear in their homes. Maybe the titan was friendly to the humans like Eren but when he saw the titan rise his leg behind him and Eren knew what it was planning on.  
  
It was anything but friendly.  
  
It wanted to kill the humans behind the wall and he knew that would allow the human obsessed titans inside. He wanted to let the titans in. Didn’t he know that there was a reason as to why the humans had the wall?  
  
It wasn’t to keep the humans in, but to keep the titans out. It was a defensive strategy that was going to fail.  
  
Eren heard more than saw the impact of the titan’s foot as it knocked into the wall, shooting rocks inside and probably landing on the humans. The humans had no real offense, they relied on other things; the blades were one. But he didn’t know if all humans had them. They could be completely helpless against what was going to happen.  
  
Eren knew he had to help.  
  
He got up and ran as fast as his legs could take him. Knocking the branches of the trees out of his face as he ran towards the wall. When he got close to the wall he noticed that the large titan had disappeared.  
  
Why? Why do all that for nothing?  
  
When Eren arrived near the wall he could see the damage, the hole was large enough that he could easily enter if he ducked his head. He could hear screaming, shouts of agony, fear and desperation spread throughout.  
  
Eren felt the feeling back when he was at the watering hole. He was beginning to hate it.  
  
Many titans were walking in. Every single one was one he hadn’t seen in his clan or even around. It seemed like they had just appeared out of nowhere or the 50-metre had brought them.  
  
The stench of death was radiating from behind the walls and Eren knew the sight was going to be more horrific than at the lake, but his intense desire to help and his curiosity was pushing him towards the wall, albeit a bit hesitantly.  
  
Eren didn’t know why he touched the tunnelled hole the 50 metre class had made but it was surprising to see how thick it was built. The humans had taken such care of the wall, they obviously tried everything to prevent this from happening. It was saddening.  
  
Eren was a little excited to see what was there behind the wall. He only wished it was under different circumstances.  
  
What Eren saw when he entered was nothing he could have prepared himself for. The city was huge, large and was in the shape of a semi-circle. It released a weight he didn’t know he was holding when he saw another wall at the end of the city. It seemed that they were prepared for this.  
  
There are large, rectangular shapes of all different sizes and at different angles that were made from stone and dead trees that must have been cut up. These could have been the humans ‘home’. There were hundreds, some going sideways and some upwards. Little paths that Eren could have just fit both of his feet on split up the houses. This was beyond what he imagined. You definitely wouldn’t see this outside of the walls.  
  
Sadly, almost all of it was shrouded by the horrific scene playing out in front of him. The fog of death that blanketed this was made worse, knowing that it was the titans’ fault. He was almost ashamed to be one of them. There were so many titans, more and more coming through the wall, he didn’t know if it was the atmosphere or the smell of death and fear that seemed to draw the titans in. But it didn’t explain why the titans were attacking and the humans weren’t defending themselves. Maybe there were too many for them to handle.  
  
From where he stood just shy of the entrance, he was able to see what was happening. Watching as they drew the tiny humans up in their colossal hands and watching as they squirmed and screeched, as they were ripped in half by teeth the size of their heads.  
  
Then an aroma caught his attention before he was able to punch the eating titan in front of him. His body begun to pull him telling him to; he was headed to when the wall straightened out and he saw a large structure in front of him that had collapsed and his eyes started to go hazy as he neared the sight. His neck was throbbing painfully and he blamed it on the hunger gnawing at him. Pushing him to go further as he saw two humans on top of the structure trying to move pieces of debris to get the humans underneath.  
  
All three of the humans were dead or knocking on death’s door by the time Eren had gotten close enough to alert the two humans on the debris. One screamed and grabbed the other’s arm, tugging it away while the other remained stuck to the spot. His body tense with fear to the point of paralysis.  
  
His tongue wetted his teeth and he reached to grab the humans when he heard the whizzing sound that he remembered from that day. It was what he needed to break from his semi-conscious state. He blinked multiple times as he regained his eye-sight back and noticed the human clasped in his grip. His hand slackened in his mild horror and he gently lowered it down to where the other was, flattening his hand out to allow it to leave.  
  
It stopped screaming and seemed surprised and shocked by his actions. His friend grabbed him out of his hand and tried pulling him away from Eren. Eren knew that he had just attempted to eat the human and he felt bad and tried to make it up to him by getting the humans out from underneath the fallen pieces of what remained of the structure. He didn’t know how these rectangular things worked but he could tell that they were hollow. He removed much of the heavier stuff and soon the live human that Eren had sensed was free and he carefully manoeuvred it to the others and they immediately picked her up. The one who was carrying the human left and ran towards the gate that lead to the other wall.  
  
The remaining human looked suspicious and untrusting and it seemed like he didn’t want to be there, but Eren made sure to make it up to him as he grabbed the other humans after removing the layers of the home. When he placed them before the human he touched their necks, checking for what, Eren didn’t know. But whatever it was it made the human sad as he clutched the middle one up in his arms and cried.  
  
It wasn’t like the crying he had heard from the others.  
  
“I’m so sorry Theresa.”  
  
Eren heard the human whisper but he couldn’t understand what it was saying. It sounded like a farewell. The human sniffled and looked torn. He looked up at Eren with wet eyes that did not seem natural at all. It was leaking all over his face. But the human didn’t seemed bothered by it.  
  
When Eren felt a light vibration behind him – another titan – the human looked up over his shoulder. It was a titan from his clan and he was staring at the dead humans.  
  
**“STAY BACK! THEY ARE MINE.”**  
  
He yelled, snarling at the titan as it snarled back but left. When he looked back the human looked confused but, he grabbed the humans and carried it in his arms. It looked at him expectantly, a confused expression but it seemed like it wasn’t thoroughly bothered as it ran towards the gate saying something in the human language that sounded too difficult to contemplate.  
  
The two bodies in front of him made the itching in his stomach worse and he felt angry at himself for even thinking of using humans for that purpose but the thought seemed to get better and better as the hunger worsened.  
  
The cloud came over and his vision fogged as he kept staring at the humans. His hand twitched as he raised it to grab the human. It was limp in his hold and it seemed to spark a part of him as he kept thinking the thought over and over.  
  
Eat it.  
  
Eat it.  
  
Consume it  
  
Devour it.  
  
Its yours–  
  
He put the human in his mouth as his mind clouded over, knowing in the back of his mind that what he is doing it so wrong and he felt a little self-hatred for becoming like the others.  
But the taste was overwhelming. When the human fell down his gullet and he could feel it enter his stomach….  
It didn't seem to make him feel better, it made it worse.  
  
After eating the other, the hunger was overriding his mind and soon it was only yelling EAT.  
  
When he got to the seventh human he heard a whizzing sound behind him and he knew that he shouldn't but he got possessive, because he knew the human was going to take his food away from him.  
  
He reached up and grabbed the human before its blade could penetrate his neck. He bit the human. Cutting the torso in half as he felt the life bleed from the human before he swallowed the upper half. He had just shoved the lower half in his mouth before he registered that there was another human coming towards him, more this time. He knocked one off its feet and it slammed into the ground with a sickening crunch. He growled and let out some steam. He could feel the blood dripping from the gaps in his teeth and tensed his body as he heard the whizzing from another.  
  
He was getting frustrated. In his confused state he wasn't able to tell why the humans were attacking him. He just wanted to eat his food without interruption.  
  
Eren felt a pinch just on his shoulder, and felt it tug as the human aimed for his neck. His mind seemed to get clearer as the situation dawned on to him what was happening. He was barely able to cover his neck before the human was able to get the blades in.  
  
His hand hurt and he cradled it to his chest as his other hand was placed over his neck defensively. He growled threateningly as he let out a puff of steam. Once his hand had healed he raised it above his head and smashed it through the top of a home and glared at the humans that were able to dodge his fist.  
  
He needed to calm down, but his enraged mind was being completely irked by the humans dodging his manoeuvre and it made him angrier and he wasn't able to think clearly.  
  
It was what led him to having a blade pierce his neck.  
  
His body tensed and he moved forward as the human cut into his neck and he thought he was going to completely disappear into the void. He felt the pain in his neck intensify. He started to screech in pain as he landed on his side and moved himself onto his back to protect his neck from the humans’ blades.  
  
His mind clearer than it had been before, he could only chastise himself that it was his fault that lead him to this. One of the humans landed on his heaving chest. A smile that Eren would define as smug across his face. He did a half-hearted snarl. It took too much effort.  
  
He could feel the tendons in his neck healing but he felt something hanging from his neck and he grasped onto them. The pain blinded him as black spots covered his vision and he could only cry at how painful it was. It must have been the part of his neck the humans were looking for. He felt something come over him as he pushed himself up from the ground and limped as fast as he could away from the humans.  
  
He wanted to reach the wall. He hoped the humans wouldn't follow him there.  
  
His body sagged and his eyes darkened again and he collapsed on a two-storey building and felt the building give under his weight. He felt a wooden beam force its way through his neck and the flesh dangling from him was barely hanging on and he knew that it wasn't healing. He felt something that felt similar to a human’s arm touch his neck and he couldn't move as the pain made him black out completely.  
  
He felt the hand pull against his neck as flesh separated and he felt a loud burst of steam escape his body before everything disappeared. 


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry for the late update, I have exams going on at the moment! Hope you enjoy and thanks for all the lovely comments the all the kudos!!

The last thing Eren remembered before he fell unconscious was the feeling of unrestrained fear and the understanding that he was going to die. The unusual feeling of sensitive flesh dangling helplessly, rubbing against the sharp edges of the crumpled structure underneath him. The subconscious action to protect the most precious and sensitive part of his body ignited made him react with his self-preservation. He needed to get away from the humans, from this place, from their  _blades_. Before he evacuates into the sky above, he was trying to formulate a plan to get out from the cage, with all of him intact.

He was able to cup the back of his neck; every time it would knock into his hand it would alight his nerves and make him cringe as the pain was sharp and unforgiving. He was able to move onto the main road, the human-like structures rising high around him. It seemed as if the buildings made the road narrower, his vision was starting to get blurrier and the thick smoke wasn't making it any easier. He narrowly dodged a human that was coming towards him. He half-heartedly roared at the others nearby. They came at him from all different directions and he was helpless to defend himself. He raised his free arm and tried to grab the humans that were within range.

It was all hopeless.

He felt the tingling in his hand that told him that there was something on it. He growled louder, the threat of death providing him with strength and anger. He tried to rip the human off before it was able to cut through his hand and to touch–

It burned. He growled as he tried to knock the human off. There was more than one, he could feel something wrap around his leg and he attempted to kick it off only to be stuck and the motion stopped. He growled out again, shouting out to anyone who would help him.

" **LUDOLF! HARALDR! ALDER!"**

He smelled the air before he felt the pain in his arm rocket. His arm had been completely cut off. The cold breeze was knocking into the sensitive flesh and Eren knew that was it.

Just before he passed out, just on the edge of his vison, he saw Alder and a flash of roses.

* * *

When he awoke, his body was weak.

His eyelids were heavy and burned behind them. His body felt more like damp sand, and frail like the living creatures he immersed himself with. His breaths were laboured and it was extremely difficult through the thick smog around him. The loud ringing in his ears was almost deafening. He opened his eyes only to immediately close them due to the glaring light.

He tried smelling first, although dulled, he couldn't sense any humans nearby. Thankfully, they must have believed him to be dead.

His arms were extremely heavy, much like the rest of his body, feeling like he must've been carrying around a bunch of trees all day without rest. It felt oddly like fatigue. He rarely felt it, his body healing at too quick of a rate to allow for the muscles to tense, but he had twice in his lifetime. Although, this was on a completely new scale. It was nothing compared to the others – and it didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

He breathed in again, coughing when the smoke entered his lungs instead of the oxygen he clearly needed. He wheezed and his body involuntary rose at the coughing fit. He turned his head to the side and felt something wet ooze from his head. He opened his eyes and thankfully the sun wasn't glaring at his retina. Dark black spots made seeing difficult but slowly faded and allowed him to see the environment around him.

The first thing he noticed was everything's large. Everything was overgrown. His body was weak and he tried to push himself up into a sitting position. He struggled to get himself up as he turned his body on the side and felt something tug at his leg, bone and muscle preventing him from moving. The pain was numbed as was everything else and the only thing that wasn't numbed was his hearing. Although the ringing hadn't stopped, only worsened and he could hear the screaming much more acutely. Before he blacked out, he was able to block it out. Now it seemed he couldn't do anything.

**"ʶʘʥ"**

Eren paused, that didn't sound right. It was mumbled and disoriented. He tried to touch his teeth, something was definitely wrong. When he didn't feel the enamel of his teeth he started to panic as he felt soft flesh instead. When he touched them, it was extremely odd. He could feel it more intensively, more than anything he had ever touched. His fingers felt much softer than he remembered and much more sensitive. Almost all of his senses were dulled: his hearing, balance, pain and sight. Whereas taste, touch and his sense of pressure were much more acute than before.

" **GET OFF ME!"**

When Eren heard a loud roar he immediately stopped. He could feel the vibration under the shattered stonework. He had never heard a shout that loud before. It was not someone from his clan that he remembered. The sound was all wrong.

When he saw a large Titan run pass him, he was almost amazed at its massive size. It towered over him. It must have been larger than the titan that touched the wall. The humans were flying behind it, flying past at amazing speeds. He squealed and laid back on the ground, trying to look as still as possible to prevent the humans from noticing that he was still alive.

" **GO AWAY!"**  the Titan yelled.  **"GET OFF OF– "**

Eren knew when there was a loud thump that vibrated through the ground that the titan was dead. ' _It's okay Eren. You're still alive, that's what matters_.' He exhaled, sick with worry and fear.

After a few minutes where he hadn't heard the human flying things, he opened his eyes, hoping that there were none nearby. After surveying the area he sighed in relief. He was safe, for now.

Now that there were no humans nearby, he could finally try to free his legs. He tried wriggling his left leg and all was fine, no injuries, just restricted movement. His right however, was injured. The sharp pain of his muscles clenching around a foreign object was incredibly painful and concerning. He was unable to heal if there was something preventing his regeneration. The thought of just ripping his leg out and letting it heal that way was an option until he put it into practise. He yelled profanities and curses as the pain was too unbearable.

He felt moisture pouring from his eyes as it burned and he kept huffing ragged breaths, trying to calm himself down. Taking deep breaths and focussing on anything but his leg seemed to help him after a while and he felt the pounding in his chest slow.

' _Okay... Lets... Lets not do_ that _.'_

He moved forward and observed what was wrong, until something felt very wrong when something touched his upper thigh. He stared at the dangling flesh with paling horror. That was most definitely  _not_  there before. It was rubbing against the stonework and was also touch sensitive. Like everything else that was on this body he didn't want to touch it. Even if it felt incredibly alien to him. He looked over at the large overhanging rock that was made similar to the stonework he was currently sitting on. There was another underneath it, the stone that was restricting his movement on his left foot.

Eren tried to get his hands around the rock and cut his finger against the rugged edge.  **"Згѱკუ!"**

He pulled his hand back and saw a thick red liquid come out. ' _That's not supposed to happen_ '. He ignored and tried a different tactic and tried to grab from underneath it. It was incredibly awkward from his position but he was able to move it slightly away so that he was able to get his left leg out. It was much smaller than he remembered it being and less muscled. It appeared bonier.

He pushed it further back now that it was no longer in the awkward angle that it was before and he was just able to see what it was that pinned him to the spot. A thin, red metallic rod had gone right through his calf. That was also unproportioned.

' _What's with my body? It is all wrong. Nothing is the same.'_

* * *

 

Once Mikasa had found Armin, she ran towards the gate to enter Wall Rose and head into Trost. They were playing by the river, Armin showing her his book filled with colourful pictures of the world outside.

They were to meet up with Armin's grandfather by the gate. This was to make sure if anything went wrong and they were separated, they would be able to find each other. They were passing one of the collapsed buildings when she heard the unmistakable cry of pain. On the collapsed building they were passing, she saw a hunched naked figure with the lower half stuck under rock. The person was writhing, yelling nonsense she couldn't understand, trying to push off the rock that he was too weak to move by himself. She slowed down and tried to see if it was possible to help the frantic...boy?

"Armin," she yelled. "There's a person who could use our help."

The blonde-haired boy looked back at her. "Mikasa, we need to get out of here, we can't save everyone!"

She wasn't listening, she could feel a titan nearby. A 15 metre class and it was only a few blocks away. If she didn't help this kid, he'd die. She gave Armin an apologetic look before running up to the building and climbing up the rubble and she fell down when some rocks gave way under her weight.

"Mikasa!" Armin yelled as he ran up behind her. He couldn't leave her and if he helped her, they would be out of there quicker. He was only concerned about the titan that clearly had spotted them and was walking slowly towards them.

Mikasa reached the area where the boy was– it was most definitely a boy – and ran up to him, breaking a few stone under her shoes. After hearing the sound, the boy's body tensed and quickly turned to face her. His eyes widened and his face paled as he spotted her, his eyes quickly turning to Armin when he was standing next to her.

The boy was tanned, vivid golden green eyes that were alight with panic and fear. He was rather short, but his limbs were long and bony. Some parts of his body were burned – his neck, face, thighs and forearms. He was also naked, very naked.

The water on his body could be from sweat or from water from a shower. But it was unlikely as he would have been buried deep under the rubble. He just stared at her, his nostrils flaring. But his face was alert and very still. It was evident he was deep in thought although weary of her and Armin. She didn't understand why. When she stepped closer he snarled and hissed in aggression, she put her hands up and head down, trying to look as small and non-threatening as possible. She walked closer and he watched her, judging eyes glued to her every movement but not responding with more hostility.

"Come on Armin, lets help him," she said as she moved to the side and investigated the rock he was under. While avoiding looking at the boy's genitalia, she was able to see into where his right leg was stuck. The boy's golden eyes, sharp and glaring at her. He was surprisingly silent.

"So what has him pinned?"

"A metal pole, its gone right through his calf."

She tried to push it further back but she knew that she was going to need his help to move it back. "Okay..."

The boy just looked at her, confused. He didn't say his name, only looking at her with unblinking eyes.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Nothing. She might have been yelling gibberish at him for all the reaction he gave her. "Armin, I don't think he understands."

The blonde haired boy looked back at Mikasa after seeing the approaching titan. "Understands what?"

The Asian woman turned her gaze towards where he was looking and blanched at the sight. "English. I don't think he speaks it. Quickly Armin, we need to get him out there."

Armin nodded and she explained how to push it back. It was incredibly heavy and hardly moved. Once they were able to push far enough so that it wouldn't hit his foot. They took a quick breather, and started pushing again. She felt incredibly relieved when it fell onto the ground below. The kid's leg was visible and the severity of his condition was obvious. They were going to have to pull his leg up. That metal pole had gone right through the stone below. She looked back to the brown-haired kid and he looked up at Mikasa with an unknown emotion on his face. His eyes seemed relieved when the rock had been removed and he was almost free.

The boy screeched and mumbled incomprehensible words she couldn't understand, but it was obvious that it was a hesitant 'thank you'. He pulled his leg closer to his chest and shuffled to his injured leg, taking a deep breath and – to Mikasa's and Armin's shock – pulled it up from the pole and without even screaming while doing so. He pulled the bloodied limb to his chest and let out of breath of relief.

Suddenly the titan roared and it shocked them how close it was. "Armin we need to go."

Armin nodded and approached the boy, putting his arms underneath his armpits and pulling him up by his arms. The boy thrashed and grumbled something she and Armin had never heard. The boy was throwing his limbs everywhere, making Armin drop him to the ground. She looked at the approaching titan and it was only a few hundred metres away. They needed to move, fast.

Thankfully, someone had heard her thought as Hannes, one of the officers from the Garrison, had spotted them and came to help. "What are you kids doing here? You need to get out of here!"

"He won't allow us to move him, Hannes," Armin said as he attempted to lift the ornery kid back up. The boy only yelled and even tried to bite him. Hannes sighed.

"Just go, I'll take care of him," he said, pointing to the grouchy child. Armin and Mikasa hesitated, but nodded and ran off through the gate.

Hannes turned to the boy, surprised by the absolute fear in the boy's eyes as he saw the kid eyeing up his blades.  _'Does the kid think I'm going to hurt him?'_  Hannes slowly approached and forcibly, avoiding the kid's bad leg. He took him in a bridal hold and shot the grappling hooks on Wall Rose, forcing himself to the gate, barely avoiding the titan's hand. Once he was away from that titan's grip, he landed on the ground with a soft thud. He ran towards the gate and when he saw Armin's grandfather, he handed the kid to him as Mikasa and Armin closed in and arrived. "Okay, now go, you're safe now."

* * *

 

When the two humans approached he was apprehensive, he couldn't attack them in his condition. He was surprised when they were about his size. Either there were some incredibly large humans or the more realistic option, that he had shrunk. The dark haired human was most unusual, he had never seen a titan look like It did, but humans do look much different than titans.

When It stepped closer to him and when he spotted the light-haired human, he snarled. One was bad enough, but two was a little too uncomfortable. The only reason he didn't outright attempt to attack them was because they didn't have those  _blades_.

They were communicating together in that language he didn't understand and eventually the dark-haired human looked directly at him and said something. It was obvious that it was trying to communicate with him, but he didn't understand a thing it was saying. It waited patiently for his answer, but he just looked at her confused. It seemed to get the message across and it looked to her companion using motions as well. It was confusing too. If It was speaking in his language, It would be talking about a head injury or head pain.

' _Did It think I have a head injury?'_

He touched his head and felt nothing wrong, just more red stuff from the lower back of his head. Although it was a little sore, he didn't feel disoriented. He looked up at the human and gave it a slightly insulted look. But it didn't even notice him as it was talking to the blonde one.

Once the two had finished their conversation they turned to look at him and he just stared. He wasn't afraid of them. He kept his eyes on the unusual human, but It wouldn't hold it. It moved closer to the rock and looked through the gap to see his injured leg. She turned and looked at the other and her expression was grim. He knew it looked bad, but he just needed to get rid of the rock.

Once they were able to remove the rock, he could feel a weight leave him and he instantly felt relieved, growling at them to move back, although he would be surprised if they could hear it through the flesh covering his teeth. He moved himself closer to his injured leg and tried to wiggle his toes. They moved but it still hurt, although not as much as when he tried to rip his leg away. So he thought it would be easy to simply pull it up over the shattered edge and free his leg.

So that's exactly what he did. Much to the horror of the humans.

Once he was free he pulled his leg to his chest and sighed in relief. He was finally free.

" **THEY LOOK DELICIOUS. I CAN'T WAIT TO EAT THEM. THEY WILL ALL BE MINE!"**

When Eren heard the titan, it was evident that the humans were scared of them. They looked much paler. Eren was just as scared, but he was concerned that he'd be mistaken as a human. This definitely didn't happen to anyone in his clan. He was still calm, that was until he felt the light-haired human touch him. He recoiled instantly, shrugging the kid off violently with a growl. But the kid just quickly put his arms under his armpits and pulled them up right, pinning Eren's arms to the human's collarbone.

" **G ფ ET ჲ§O‡̐FF!"**  Eren yelled, thrashing as much as his numbed body could. He tried to scratch the human, even bite him. The human finally got the message and dropped him. He growled at the human.  **"DON** _ **̐**_ **T** _ **TOɚUCH ME!**_ **"**

He tried to stand up but his body was sore and was complaining so he stayed sitting. That was until he saw the larger human approach. The human was double Eren's size and he was wearing the uniform that looked similar to the humans' that attacked him. He growled and hissed at the man while giving the human the evillest look he could. He was talking to the other humans and he was able to usher them off.

The human tried to communicate with him, but failed because Eren just responded with a growl. The human stepped forward and raised his hands above his head and Eren just stared where the blades were stored. He wasn't stupid, it would only take a few seconds for the human to grab them out; if his experience out of the wall, as well as in was worth anything. The humans just stepped forward, grabbing his arms and pulling him up painfully. He then put one arm underneath his knees and one behind his back, securing him to the human's body.

Then there was a lurch and suddenly the ground was far away. He grabbed onto the human tighter, not wanting to fall. A fall at this height could probably kill him. While in the air, Eren was able to see the whole human settlement, he was able to see all of the titans. When he spotted Alder he panicked.

" **ADLEɖ!"**

" **AɓER!"**

" **ARɮDFʊ"**

" **ɶɰDLER"**

" **ALDER!"**

" **ALDER!"**  He screamed as loud as possible, hoping that the elder titan would hear him. When the black-haired titan spotted him, it stopped. Eren was solely focussed on the titan that he didn't notice the human handing him to someone else and that they were going through the wall until he noticed everything had darkened.

**"ALDER!"**

" **ALDER!"**

" **ALDER!"**  Then everything went black and the overly massive wall was all he saw. He could no longer see the titan.  _'No! I can't be alone! I won't do it ever again! Alder! Someone help me!'_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me if there are any problems and ill try to post up the new chapter ASAP!


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I finally got the next chapter posted. I've also changed the story's summery if I've done it right. sorry this late, I've been busy with school and end of year exams which has made me far to busy to work on this story and the same is for my beta WornAndOneWinged who has made this chapter possible. I honestly never knew that this story would get as many kudos and hits as it does and thank you all for your lovely messages and your support, it really helps me to get motivated! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> EDIT: 4/03/16: minor edits, fixed some spelling errors, grammar mistakes and deleted and added a few sentences.

 

Once Hannes met up with Mikasa and Armin, Eren was limp in Hannes hold.  Eren was barely clothed, draped in a cloak that was far too big for him that ended at his knees. His long brown hair was shaggy and dishevelled sticking to his damp face. His golden eyes were bloodshot and puffy. The brown-haired boy's hand was strongly clenched in Hannes cloak, whereas Hannes looked like he'd had a run-in with a bear with his cloak ruffled and crinckled and his hair unkempt. The boy had definitely put up a fight.  
  
“Is he okay?” asked Armin.  
  
Hannes sighed, “He wouldn’t stop struggling when we went through Wall Maria. He’s a fighter but I’m just glad I held onto him or He would have plummeted to his death.”

Hannes kept a firm hand on the boy’s bicep, as he lowered the boy to the ground just in case the kid decided to run off. Hannes ruffed the boy’s greasy brown locks with his other hand. He led the boy to Armin and Mikasa, and Mikasa grabbed the boy’s empty hand.   
  
“Hold on to him, I don’t know if he’ll just run back into Shiganshina,” said Hannes.  
  
The boy just looked at his grasped hand, staring numbly at them, his nose flaring.

  
“Something’s wrong,” stated Armin, eying the boy and noticing his lack of animation. “He’s not acting like before.”  
  
Hannes nodded, “He’s probably in shock. On our way here we ran into a titan. Kid saw everything. He’s probably traumatised.” Hannes turned and faced Armin’s grandfather, “Could you keep an eye on him? I don’t know what he’s thinking and he clearly can’t understand English.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

Eren wasn’t happy to be around the humans, they took his hand in theirs and pulled him towards the large group of people hovering towards some wooden structure. His finely tuned senses made him aware of the atmosphere and even though his sense of smell had gotten duller, he could easily smell the fear and anxiety surrounding the humans like fog.  
  
He disliked the green cloth they made him wear, it was itchy and in some places his skin was wet and smelled, making the cloth stick against it as he overheated. He had tried to remove it many times but he was soon held down and  he grumbled and fought in the human’s grip before the cloth was put back on. When the group of four headed forward, many smaller humans were being ushered onto the structure that was floating on the water. Eren would have been surprised at how humans were able to create such things if he wasn’t so trapped. He wanted to go back to Alder and his clan he no longer wanted to be near the humans if they found out what he is. The human floating contraption was connected to the land by a single thick piece of wood that didn’t look secure at all and looked like it didn’t need much of a push to fall into the water below.

 

Eren looked back at the wall, gazing along it until he caught sight of the upper part of the entrance. It was almost out of view since his body was far too small – a rather unusual feeling since he used to be one of the taller titans.  
  
He whined, although he really wished to understand the humans and their clan hierarchy, he really didn’t want to be stuck here surrounded by humans that could kill him in an instant. He wanted the security blanket of his clan. He had tried to call out to Alder but he couldn’t hear him and he could barely get the words out. The flesh surrounding his teeth made his words sound muffled and incomprehensible. He probably looked so different as well. His clan probably wouldn’t recognize him in this form and possibly mistake him for a human. But the rejection he felt was extreme when Alder did nothing but look at him and turn around as if he was nothing.

 

He felt so alone and the possibility that he could suffer the same fate as those that had fallen behind that wall was terrifying. It didn’t help the fact that Eren couldn’t understand the human language, scared and conflicted about what they wanted from him but thankfully they also communicated non-verbally. It helped but not by much but made him feel a little more secure, it also allowed him to see that the three humans were trustworthy and their actions genuine.

 

There was another human who appeared more identical to the small light-haired boy but the man’s skin was wrinkled and saggy. Eren felt the muscles in his neck constrict as he looked at the older human in a confused and concerned gaze.  _‘Is it supposed to do that?’_  From what Eren could gather, the human was superior as the two humans looked up at him and there was respect in their eyes. He talked to the smaller humans who rescued him from the house earlier and eventually the earthy brown eyes of the human looked at him.   
  
The man smiled calmly and the way his body was poised and his gait was all gentle and that definitely soothed Eren’s frazzled nerves and it was starting to irritate him. He didn’t want to feel relaxed around them they could possibly kill him in heartbeat if they knew what he was. “So what’s your name?”  
  
Once again the human spoke verbally. Eren didn’t say anything, just looked at the human quizzically. It always seemed to get the message across quicker than actually trying to talk. The blue-eyed boy turned and faced the elder man.   
  
“Um grandpa, he can’t understand you. He doesn’t speak English,” Armin said shyly.   
  
The older man turned around slightly and glanced at the blonde-haired boy before turning back to Eren with an unknown emotion in his eyes. “Even so, the boy would still have a name... he might be a feral child but he would have been given a name beforehand.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Feral child?” Mikasa asked, confused.  
  
“Yes, they’re children who are normally abused or abandoned and have lived by animals and have many of their traits,” replied Armin.  
  
“Either way you should come up with a name so he can get into the registration until we can find any family members,” said Armin’s grandfather as he ushered the boy further away from the edging of the boat. “It’ll be easier if we can get a name. Maybe should find a way to figure out who he is.”  
  
Both Armin and Mikasa nodded, looking back at the brown-haired boy who was staring at them with confusion and indiscreet interest. It was apparent that the boy had been overhearing their conversation, despite the obvious language barrier. The boy’s golden eyes had been staring intently at them as if trying to distinguish every movement and action and save it in his memory. Mikasa looked him directly in the eyes and it was as if the boy was able to analyse her every action. She clenched her fist to see if it would catch the boy’s attention. To her amazement he immediately glanced at her fist but almost as quickly as he did he looked back at Mikasa. His lips twitched and his eyes darkened slightly. She then pulled her face up in disgust and the boy’s reaction was instant–  
  
“What are you doing?” asked Armin, making Mikasa break eye contact with the animalistic boy.   
  
“I was just thinking that when you don’t understand another language, you read more into body language,” Mikasa said with a grin. “That’s what he’s doing. He’s not stupid. He can read our body language. Maybe that is what we could use to communicate with him.”   
  
Armin’s eyes brightened as he thought about it. “You know Mikasa that might just work.”

 

* * *

 

 

When the human was looking at him weirdly and showing obvious signs of agitation and aggression Eren got a little confused. They were calm and always showed trust but were a little weary of him. He could tell the emotion was fake as the body language didn’t mix with her facial expression, but he still glared at her. Then the two smaller humans started talking really fast and looking incredibly happy while the blonde haired boy looked back at him occasionally. _‘They’re talking about you.’_  
  
Once they got on the boat, it soon filled up with humans and started to move. Eren freaked out and the dark-haired human grabbed his hand tightly. Eren turned slightly and looked at the human and felt his nerves lessen as she smiled brightly very much unlike the titans who seemed to smile lifelessly. It bothered him that the humans were able to calm him, their animated movements and the deliberate body language that seemed so different from what he was used to.  
  
One human came close and knocked into him, his elbow pushing into his ribs painfully. He snarled and growled while digging his nails into the human’s arm and glaring angrily at the human. The human’s already pale face only blenched more and he got off Eren almost as quickly as he bumped into him. The scent of fear was evident before he even came close to Eren.   
  
He sat down next to the three humans who rescued him, weary of his injured leg which had started to throb. It wasn’t painful but it was irritated. The dark-haired human looked at his leg as he sat down. He was aware that his bloodied leg had now turned brown. It was unusual for him to feel the blood; heck it was weird as he never bled. Titans don’t bleed, he would regenerate with the steam. If he got injured close to night, it would take twice as long to heal but it never did this. Humans bled. He did not. Until now.

 

* * *

 

 

Mikasa looked at the boy’s leg with concern, he didn’t really look fazed at the injury but he did look at the drying blood, confused. He even put weight on his leg when he came to sit next her and Armin although he was cautious not to put too much on pressure on it there was no expression of pain evident on his face. When he sat down, he pulled his leg close to him as he sat in the foetal position. He glanced at the humans that were fumbling around, faces full of fear, anxiety, despair and confusion. He looked down sadly and turned to look at the river as they moved forward into Wall Rose. He absent-mindedly scratched at the dried blood on his leg. Mikasa slapped his hand away while mumbling about how that would make it worse. The boy turned sharply at her when she slapped his hand away.  He immediately moved his hand away and awkwardly pulled back his lips in a mock snarl. He eventually turned back to staring at the river.  
  
The boy was incredibly unusual, he was scared but he wasn’t afraid of the titans, he was more afraid of the people around him. Was it possible that he could be a feral child? Mikasa had heard of them before, some children getting lost in the forest or children kidnapped or abandoned without care, learning from a variety of animals that lived in the deep parts of the woods. But one thing that didn’t add up was that he understood certain human emotions and body language and some social cues. There are multiple languages but none are done completely by body language without some verbal communication.  
  
When they entered the gateway into Trost, he seemed to cower more into himself. When Mikasa grabbed his hand, gently rubbing his palm with her thumb, he looked at her in the corner of his eyes and glanced down at their connected palms with a frown. The untamed glint in his eyes confirmed without a doubt that the boy wasn’t raised by humans.   
  
Just as the gate was closing, the air was eerily quiet. A disquieting sensation of silence spread throughout the atmosphere. Then there was a loud squawking of the birds as they flew across the sky in the opposite direction of where the wall was breached. The boy sniffed the air as his nostrils flared in agitation. But a surprised smell must have triggered something because he stood up, ridged and staring back at the wall that separated Shiganshina from Wall Maria. Then there was more rustling as more birds flew from the branches of the trees.   
  
She heard the thumping. Heavy earth-rattling footsteps. No doubt in her mind that it came from a titan.   
  
“Do you hear that?” Whispered a man, anxiously huddled against the wall separating him from the conveyor belt that pushed the boat forward, while hugging a woman against his chest.   
  
“Oh god! Not again!”  
  
“No please!”  
  
“Why?!”  
  
“Its okay. Its okay. Its okay”  
  
It was completely silent, except for the hushed and muffled cry of a baby. The humans still boarding the other boat had completely frozen, a few taking advantage of this and running on board the boat. One of the people on their boat was shaking back and forth, whispering nothings to himself in a futile attempt to keep calm. The tanned boy tried to get up higher by standing atop the thick handrail, despite his injury. He got up and turned his head around like a bird moving its head to see its surroundings. The thumping got worse and worse, louder and louder and then it stopped. But there was screaming coming from Shiganshina that were obviously soldiers. Mikasa couldn’t understand what it was they were saying but the thumping started again but this time in quick secession. The titan was running. Then suddenly there was loud yelling as the titan approached quicker and then suddenly there was a loud bang as the titan barged through the closing gap and made a large hole. The vibration of the shake was so violent that the boy almost fell over the edge if it wasn’t for Armin grabbing his hand. The titan was huge, at least 15 metres tall completely covered in developed muscles.

 

They just lost Shiganshina their homes, but now they’ve also lost Wall Maria.

 

* * *

 

 

Trost wasn’t very forgiving, as they got further into the wall the more egotistical they were. The soldiers were more stuck up and looked down at the refugees with a snobbish tilt of their head. They clearly were pissed off at having to give up their rations of food to people that ‘ _are below them’_. The solder’s especially disliked the tanned brown haired boy following behind Mikasa and Armin like a lost puppy that had nowhere to go. Their disgust and repulsion for the boy as evident as their faces scrunched up unattractively. The boy stared at them, following their movements like a hawk eying its prey. It was a windy day and Hannes’ cloak would flap in the wind and expose the boy’s nether regions. The boy didn’t look at all like he cared, it was obvious that he had never worn clothing before and so the concept of nudity didn’t bother him. He was given many dirty looks by the people around them. Armin made it his job to hold down the cloak when a large gust of wind would force the bottom up.   
  
One of the more snobbish soldier’s glared at the golden-eyed kid. The man sneered and the negative atmosphere the man gave off started to rub off on the boy. He glared back, showing off the boys’ alabaster white teeth that looked like it could cut through butter effortlessly. Sharp pointed tips that, along with the dangerous emotion and air the boy gave off, definitely surprised the man. The soldier gave him a chiding look and sneered back, making some type of movement that really set the kid off.   
  
The boy immediately lunged forward, teeth bared threateningly and although he had a small frame, he knew how to make it larger. His gait was strong and confident and full of anger and rage. He went off screeching at the man, making large wide and unusual gestures with his hands and body, weird things with his fingers and facial expressions. The verbal language was full of screeches, yells and snarls. The solder froze for a second then pushed the boy back, which he took as a sign of aggression, then the boy made a fist and punched at the man. Grabbing his uniform and tugging him towards him, which was quite a feat considering that he didn’t even reach the man’s waist. The man eventually kicked the kid in the chest, throwing the boy to the ground. Knocking the air from his lungs as he gasped for breath.   
  
“Get that fucking brat under control!” the solder yelled then walked away.  
  
The boy let off another round of yelling in that defined language of his and spat at the solders retreating form only for Armin to put his hand around the boy’s arm holding him there. He stopped yelling and stared at him before looking at the ground, clenching his teeth before pulling his arm from Armin angrily and standing up.   
  
“We really need to give you a name,” he said, looking at the kid with concern. The soldier didn’t even seem to care about the concerning amount of dried blood on the boy’s leg. Mikasa came from behind the boy with an armful of bread. The boy only stared at it like a foreign object had just been thrusted into his hands. He watched Armin and Mikasa eat it quizzically and curiously. 

 

* * *

 

 

Eren felt out of place with the humans, the fight with the dressed up man that wore the same cloth as the older man who brought him further into the wall and gave him to the two humans. They would stare and ogle at him. One of the smaller humans came up to him, talking quite quickly and it was starting to concern him that he wasn’t breathing whilst talking. Eren could only guess what the little human and the bigger humans wanted. He could understand little things but their movements made no sense or were very vague.   
  
The smaller human that came up to Eren’s waist pulled at the cloth. Still talking more bubbly and utter nonsense that made no sense to him and probably to the humans as well. The boy kept pulling on the cloth and looking at him innocently but also expectantly. What was the human expecting? Eren shook his head and made a small hand gesture that meant ‘no’ but the human still tugged on the cloak incessantly. The boy made a gargling sound in his throat and smiled gummily. At least the human used more body language than the larger ones. Eren looked down and smiled at the little human showing all of his teeth in a happy lopsided grin.   
  
Then suddenly a grown human came up and snatched the boy away from Eren. “Thomas! You’re okay! Thank god!” The human yelled as it grabbed the much smaller human. The distressed human looked up at Eren noticing his toothy grin and lack of clothing and yelled, “Get away from my son!”   
  
Eren backed away immediately. Noting the human’s aggression and protectiveness, similar to a titan fighting over a human corpse. Although Eren thought that the human didn’t want to eat the smaller human.   
  
“ _Iwa ʞinɸfg_ ” Eren tried to tell the humans but then again, why did he? He knew that they couldn’t understand a word he said or what his body language meant. The human ran off with a huff, holding the smaller human close to her chest. Leaving Eren standing their awkwardly as the surrounding humans dissipated.   
  
Eren sighed, it was clear he didn’t know anything about human society. He was probably going to be suspected of being a titan before the sun set and he’d have to run outside the wall before they’d kill him. He needed to learn the language and quickly. It would be the best way to force himself into human society without raising suspicion. But the only way he could learn was to ask the humans for help…  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never really realised how often i changed POV until I posted this chapter.... 
> 
> I dont know when the next chapter will be up since I haven't gotten one written up but ill try to post a new chapter up ASAP!
> 
> Thank you all for your support!
> 
> My Tumblr is http://cursedobjects.tumblr.com/


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am incredibly sorry about how small and late this is. You are allowed to murder me, I apologise. I will try to get another chapter up soon and have a much higher word count. University has just started up and I've been adjusting to classes and I've been very unwell so that's prolonged this chapter from being uploaded. I've also done some updates on the fifth chapter and tried to fix any grammatical errors. thanks for reading and supporting me despite my horrible updating skills. special thanks to my beta for proof-reading this for me!!
> 
> This chapter is mainly a filler about how Eren is engaging into human society and stuff before we actually get a move on with the plot.

Eren was heavily confused by the social interactions between the humans. They were always communicating and he learned quickly that humans are very social creatures, using verbal communication more than their body language. This was something Eren had to wrap his head around since Titans were antisocial and communicated primarily with their bodies. The majority of titans were simple-minded but some had a level of intelligence. Although verbal communication between humans was difficult to process, as they spoke too quickly for him to translate it, their body made up for what was lost and he was able to roughly understand what was being discussed or talked about. 

 

The humans would sometimes look at him weirdly - with a rather unwanted expression - that reminded him of what would be on his face when looking upon a disabled animal or a deceased human. It irritated him and he would bristle in annoyance when he would catch their gaze. ' _They think I'm different and feel pity for me. There is nothing wrong with me.'_ Some humans would be alert in his presence or bothered by his appearance and that  _really_  annoyed him so he avoided these humans all together but it also concerned him as he was also afraid that they were catching onto his unusualness.  

 

The humans also had a hierarchy, much different from titan clans unless you counted humanity as one whole. Which he didn't since humans were quite divided but they did have 'family'; A small group of humans instead of a huge cluster that he was used to. The difference with human clans was that you were normally ‘born’ but there was the occasional human that was chosen into them - how that worked, they didn’t discuss to him. They would grow up and eventually leave to create another clan.  _‘That probably explains why there are so many of them in such a small place.’_  How humans are born and made is something the humans would manage to avoid talking about with their red faces, stiff bodies and stuttering over their words, while giving him a half-hearted excuse. Obviously this was a topic better left undiscussed if the other humans would look at him with disdain and others glancing at him in horror at the risqué topic. He learned that it was best not to broach it.

 

Eventually he was given a name by the humans. Eren tried to give them his name in his mother tongue and they looked baffled and confused while they gave sideways glances at each other before shaking their heads. They were able to get some sounds and letters out of his name and they pronounced it like ‘AIR IN’. It was pretty close to his name in his titan form so he went along with it. He learned the other clan members’ names pretty quickly. There was the unusual human named ‘Mikasa’ and the smaller blonde haired human named ‘Armin’ and the older man that just went by as ‘grandpa’.

 

He belonged to the human Arlert clan or Arlert family. It was just the four of them and it was tiny compared to the clan he was used too when he was outside the wall with the titans. Going from more than fifty titans to four humans was a huge difference, but he didn’t mind. It was quite nice to have space all to himself. He rather liked it with his ‘family’. They were kind and took good care of him. Armin was very intelligent and smart and he taught Eren most of their language and helped him understand ‘social cues’. Mikasa was protective even if she would mollycoddle him at times. 

 

* * *

 

Armin had taken it upon himself to teach Eren English. The boy was intelligent and insightful and his golden eyes would brighten up with pride when he would get something right. He was surprisingly a quick learner but it took Eren a while to understand grammar and sentence structures. Eren was a master at understanding the body. Body language was what Eren excelled at and he could read a person’s body like Armin would read a book. Eren used this knowledge to fill in the blanks when he did not understand the order given to him. There was a downside to this as well, though. Eren's lack of ability to understand English stood out like a splinter and made him a target for bullying. The boy wasn’t frail or fragile; his tan body was lean but not weedy and he had a fair bit of muscle that was hidden by the baggy hand-me-downs he wore. Many would get up in his face and push him around. Eren, would look confused and he had an expression that was normally seen on a guilty face. As if he had done something wrong and would look apologetic, taking their bullying for a sort of punishment. This contributed to the boys targeting Eren because he would do nothing about it and let them push him around and hurt him.

 

Once Armin saw this and intervened. He came up and told the bullies to bugger off. It was only until one of them laid a hurtful hand on him that Eren’s body posture completely changed. He turned from passive and shy to aggressive and threatening in an instant. He reverted back to the growls and snarls that was his mother tongue. Eren would put emphasis on his frame and make himself look bigger and more intimidating, puffing his muscles outwards as a display of anger. He would pull his lips back and bare his sharp white teeth menacingly before he grabbed one of the bullies’ arm, knocking him backwards with hardly no effort. The one pull that still had his hands gripped on Armin's lapels sneered at Eren’s display before Eren ripped the boys arm away and grabbed the boy’s neck, growling as he pushed the boy onto the ground. The bully ran away and other boys followed suit. Since then no one picked on Armin again when Eren was around.

 

* * *

 

Eren helped with the housework and assisted them with the chores around town. It was obvious pretty quickly that Eren was not raised in a town or village nearby, nor had anyone known a place that spoke his language. It definitely seemed like Eren was a feral child but he knew social constructions and dynamics. After four months Eren knew words like ‘good’, bad, ‘no’, ‘yes’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘bye’, ‘hello’, ‘help’, ‘more’, ‘less’, a few foods and items. It was amazing how much Eren was able to notice the smallest of muscle spasms, people’s gait, how they used the space and how their body would respond to certain stimuli. He could tell in an instant when someone was walking towards him and who it was without even having to look at who it was. After the fight with the boys, he didn’t like to be pushed around until he knew that getting into a fight was a no-no. He was impulsive and seemed to enjoy getting into fights. He used his understanding of body language to push and to say offensive things when he learned that it was unkind. It was too easy for him to create conflict and Mikasa and Armin would have to keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t jump into a brawl.

 

Despite his confidence at fighting, he was needy and required constant reassurance. When they had to make Eren work at the plantation to get money so they could afford food, he was always unsure on what to do. He would ask Mikasa and Armin for help or observe the others around him. Eren didn’t like working on the plantation; having to work long hours and in a bad position for hours was difficult for him. He would occasionally make mistakes and would briskly try to cover it up and look as if he had done nothing wrong and hope no one was watching. But knowing Eren’s luck he would only make the mistake more obvious and worse than what it was before. When he was working on the potato plantation pulling out the potatoes, he once pulled the whole plant out - including the roots - and he would scurry to put the plant back in, only for it to be lopsided and collapse to the ground with a soft ‘flop’. When the plantation owner came over with his snobby and ungrateful attitude, Eren would freak out, trying to put the plant back into its original position without it being too obvious as to what he had accidentally done. Eren would try to look as small as possible but that didn’t stop the owner from noticing and Eren was no longer allowed to work on the plantation.

 

* * *

 

It was a bit more difficult to earn money to afford food since it was so expensive and in high demand and there was a food shortage. They needed to get Eren a job to help pay for food, but despite that he would outright refuse to eat, especially vegetables. They were eventually able to get Eren a job as a stable hand, taking care of the horses that were used by the military. He enjoyed it and loved being with the animals, even if he smelled like he had bathed in manure the whole day, and he was well liked by the horses’ owners despite his lack of English. One or two of them disliked Eren and refused to let him work on their horses much to Eren’s displeasure, but he agreed and another stable hand did it for him. 

 

Eventually one of the horses he took care of was killed during a Survey Corp’s expedition, and Eren was deeply distressed and upset by this and was heartbroken for many hours before they were able to calm him down. Mikasa told Eren about the military and what they did. He was very interested by the survey corps since he found out that they travelled beyond the walls before Wall Maria went down five months earlier.

 

“So they people who go to wall kill titan?”

 

“Yes, Eren, the survey corps go beyond the wall to find information on titans that could help humanity,” Armin said to Eren who was trying to process this information. 

 

“They stupid. It dangerous,” Eren muttered, frowning. “Why do that? They die if they do?”

 

“They want answers, we all do.”

 

* * *

 

“How old to join military?”

 

Armin glanced at Mikasa. “Is it fourteen? Or thirteen?”

 

Mikasa shook her head. “It’s twelve. You end up finishing training at fifteen- sixteen.”

 

Eren didn’t know his age, didn’t need to count the days as they passed by, never needed to. “Can you join?”

 

They both shook their heads and Armin replied saying, “We’re too young, we’re only eleven we will have to wait until next year before we can apply. Applications are open in March.”

 

Eren smiled. “We go then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, commenting and sending me kudos, it means a lot to me. I'll try to update this ASAP! 
> 
> Please tell me if there are any typos, grammar mistakes, spelling errors of if some just doesn't make sense, ill try to fix it.


	8. Chapter 7 Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo. I have no excuse as to why this is this late. but university and my medical health were ruining my creative juices. So far I've been seizure free for 6 months now so hopefully things are going to improve. My beta is sadly already consumed by university so she was unable to help me with this chapter. so I hope its not too bad, because I'm not the best at proof-reading my own work. University for me starts next week so I wanted to upload this before because no doubt I'll forget. Please tell me if their are any grammar or spelling Errors or if something just makes zero sense because it'll bother me if its in there. I promise that I wont abandon this story I'm, just busy and lazy, not a good combination.
> 
> The chapter is a mix of two drafts I had and I tried to incorporate them both and get a larger chapter. Its double the usual length so that's something!! hope you enjoy and thanks for sticking around!!

Eren has trained over the years as well trying to keep himself in shape and attempting to hunt down food for his human family since food was scarce. He was lucky for still having a strong sense of smell and good hearing because it made it easy to detect animals in his vicinity. He often did this after sundown, allowing himself to settle amongst the creatures whilst avoiding unwanted attention. Apparently what he was doing was not well endorsed by the powerful humans Eren had yet to meet. He lacked the interest and want of hunger experiencing it for the first time when he entered the wall. Successfully catching food always made him jubilant, knowing he’ll see the look of surprise and shock when he brought home food for his hungry humans. It was one of the few things Eren could do that made him feel like he was actually doing something rather than being a nuisance to them.

 

When Armin and Mikasa where younger he had wanted to join the human’s military. It would be better for him by providing him with advantages, he would learn to fly like the humans did when he saw them outside the walls. A guilty pleasure he would take advantage of when he could. it something that made him immensely excited despite the damage they can cause. He also wanted to be able to leave the walls as well and see what has become of his titan clan in his absence. He may even see _those_ humans again. They may have frightened him into cold sweats but he harbours no ill feelings towards them. Being in his new human-like form has provided him with a new narrative to see his species. Titans are significantly larger than his measly little body and Eren knew how easy it was to crush a human in his hand.

 

A five meter could easily cause fatal damage to his body.

 

On the year 847 Eren, along with the two humans he had begun to live with, Armin and Mikasa were finally of age to enlist in the Training Corp. Eren’s English had dramatically improved over the last 3 years. He understands most of basic English but it is still mostly broken. When November arrived and Armin finally turned 15 they enlisted the following year becoming members of the 104th Training Corps. When Eren, Mikasa and Armin finally reached the legal minimum age required to join the military, they only had to wait a few weeks before the paperwork was finalised and set and basic training began.

 

There was a meeting station where groups were picked up and taken by carriage to the compound where basic was held in the inner less metropolitan areas of Trost. The trip was slow and ticked on dreadfully slow, largely fuelled by Eren’s impatience. When they finally arrived they were taught how salute, the right hand clenched into a fist over the heart and the other behind the back. The concept was confusing to him. But humanity as a whole was confusing to him. All of these rules, rituals and concepts that made a human society were things he was not used to. But he obeyed them because if he didn’t, other humans would take notice and target him and possibly even find out the truth about where he was from.

 

He remembered when they attempted to put cloth on him, he would always take it off. The cloth was irritating his skin and he disliked how it weighed him down and restricted his movements. And some of the clothes that felt like they gave him more freedom were not allowed as there were set clothes for male looking humans and others for female humans. And don’t get him started on shoes.

 

He missed being beyond the walls, the freedom to roam and go wherever he pleased, while here he was restricted and limited. He also lacked a ‘passport’ or whatever that was and he got much scrutiny because of that but the fact that he came from Shiganshina he was given a new one much like other humans who were forced to leave all of their belongings and possessions behind in their escape from the other titans. He isn’t allowed to enter Wall Sina, he already gets enough issues from the military entering Wall Rose.

 

When they finally arrived there was a steep descent and Eren could see the large buildings and towers that were scattered around a dirt track and many machines that had many wires and attached to them. When the carriage stopped, a tall dark haired man also had lines of white streaked throughout and has wrinkles around his eyes which despite the oddity’s that titans come with he’s never seen one with eyes that have so many lines around them. The man ushered them out of the carriage and they were told to report to someone although Armin dragged him as if he didn’t hear or comprehend the command. His ability to understand the human’s language had increased and he could interpret most of what was being said but he took much longer than usual to respond than the others and he was often mocked for it. He felt slightly insulted.

 

When they reached where they were supposed to go, they were separated and put into a line to wait for instructions from the instructor. Eren didn’t feel comfortable being separated from his human clan, he was more vulnerable and weak if he was alone surround by professional killers of his kin. He couldn’t see Mikasa but he could see Armin further down in the line in the distance. He smiled when Armin caught his line of sight. Eren’s shoulders loosened and he relaxed marginally.

 

Eren stood ram rod straight, he started to get nervous when he heard whispers that started to get him restless with anxiety.

 

“Oh Crap! The instructor is Keith Shadis.”

“Who is he again?”

“He used to be a commander in the Survey Corps.”

 

Eren gulped, someone high in the human militia hierarchy is going to watch him and judge him in. As the humans say, holy Maria he can’t do this. _What if he finds out what if…?_ What if… _I should’ve stayed out of this mess._

 

When Chief Instructor Shadis came out to meet the new recruits he walked by slowly and analysed them with a blank expression. He radiated aggression, power, dominance and strength and Eren was subject to it all and the anxiety and fear of the hundreds of humans surrounding him only built in strength. Eren knew in reality he was just as powerful as Shadis, if not more as his former titan body could kill multiple titans easily like he used to beyond the walls when he was bored or they entered his territory. But this new body was significantly smaller, going from 15 meters to less than 2 meters was a huge metamorphosis and didn’t know the limits this body possessed.

 

_I wonder if I can ever change back._

Being with Armin and Mikasa was nice and they treated him with kindness he hadn’t gotten from his clan. But he didn’t deserve it. He was the reason responsible for Armin’s Grandpa going away. His kin are responsible and he is also included because it accounts for all of his kind. He didn’t belong here and didn’t belong with them. But he going to help as much as he can until the truth inevitably comes out. He was – is – the very thing they want to destroy and everyone around him is proof of that.

 

“HEY YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION OR ARE YOU DAYDREAMING OF BECOMING TITAN FODDER?!”

 

Eren jumped and focused his eyes on the brown haired, bald man in front of him. He seemed familiar but he didn’t want to follow that train of thought because he knew where it would lead him too. He’s probably seen or heard him before the fall of Shiganshina and Maria. Especially since he’d never meet someone working for the Training Corps. Only the Garrison.

The enraged instructor grabbed the lapels of Eren’s jacket lifting him effortlessly up, in a show of dominance that had Eren growling but his wasn’t audible as his breathing was almost cut off.

 

“BECAUSE AT THIS RATE YOU’LL BE TITAN FODDER AT NO TIME AT ALL!” spit landed over his face and Eren scrunched up his face and wrapped his hand around the wrists of Shadis’ hands and lifted himself higher to allow himself to breathe.

_Well, actually he isn’t wrong._

 

Then as suddenly as he appeared he dropped Eren on the ground. “GET UP SOLDIER, THIS ISN'T NAP TIME. STATE YOUR NAME, SHITHEAD.”

 

“Eren Yeager. Shiganshina,” Eren said as loudly as possible, with a slight growl that could be interpreted as a growl or his throat complaining about being choked earlier. Eren also performed the salute similar as everyone else and Shadis moved on.

 

His next victims got a worse punishment than he did one was held up but his head because he got the salute around the wrong way around and the other grabbed a potato from the mess hall without permission and was forced to do laps until she dropped. The way she talked to him as if they were friends when it was clear by his gait that he was anything but. He was here to intimidate if Eren read the situation correctly. Shadis walked towards her like a wolf slowly talking a lone unfortunate rabbit. It was clear that you were unable from this experience to take food during the food crisis that is clearly going on behind the walls. You were only allowed to eating during breakfast lunch and dinner.

 

But when Shadis went to Armin Eren tensed again and Eren didn’t want to entertain the idea of his friendly and kind friend being shouted and yelled out for no apparent reason other than intimidation. Eren’s nostrils flared and he watched the nearby instructors who only walked by watching so that he was out of their line of sight. Eren was over-protective of Armin. He was much smaller than Eren’s smaller form and much weaker and anyone doing that to anyone he cared about was going to get a greeting from his fist in their face.

 

“I AM WORTHLESS TO HUMANITY AND I AM –”

As Eren got out of his position, he could see Armin’s eyes locked with his and the desperately pleaded ‘no’. Despite every part of him demanding that Shadis back off, he reluctantly got back in line and Armin yelled even louder because he was too focused on Eren.

 

Out of the corner of Armin’s eye he could see Eren, furious and ready to engage in a fight. He was far to over-protective of Armin when it came to fights but this wasn’t a fight, it was only intimidation and hazing for the new recruits. Eren already got into enough trouble, shouldn’t try to engage in a fight with the instructor. His inability to fully understand their language made him a target for educated bullies in Trost. Since Shiganshina was a poor district many only learned to read and write and not much was taught than that whereas those who lived further in had a better education. And Eren looks like a peasant to them, uneducated and odd who doesn’t understand some basic concepts of living like hygiene, clothes and even eating. Armin even gets concerned on his physical health with the lack of food he eats. He gets teased verbally almost constantly, its worse that Eren doesn’t even know this, but he seems to be able to recognise tone so he will get aggressive if someone sounds patronising. But as he slowly began to learn English he understood the comments and the harassment and he got into fights daily.

 

* * *

 

 

It shocked the usual bullies that targeted Armin for whatever reason they decided, when the shortage of food was at its lowest and before Armin lost his Grandpa when the government decided they needed to remove numbers from inside the wall. The bully grabbed him and pushed him against the wall.

 

“It’s your bloody fault that there’s no food! you pigs come here and steal our land, our food and resources.”

 

Eren came out of nowhere, full of rage, anger and growled at the teenager who had him pinned to the wall. Eren’s growls always sounded sinister and animalistic and he radiated dominance and authority and his eyes glowed like molten gold ready to burn anything it touches and he grabs the bully and rips him off of Armin and bares his teeth, showing off his enlarged canines and punched the guy in the nose and knocked his knee into the kid’s stomach making the kid gasp for breath. He then grabs the bully by the hair and hisses, “Armin is Farmer, he grow food. You eat food. Back off!”

 

* * *

 

 

He pleaded for Eren to back off with his eyes and hesitantly he returned and Shadis only grew angry and Armin failed to do as he was asked. Eren has a lack of self-preservation and is incredibly impulsive and doesn’t think before starting a fight but has a high sense of morals and is kind and friendly to those that are respectful and show the kindness back.

 

Armin sighs when Shadis leaves, but he knows that Eren is going to be an issue if he is going to rough handled throughout his training and Eren is going to bite at everyone that does bad by him, Armin might have to talk to Eren about letting him take care of himself.

 

After 4pm basic for the first day ended and they were able to regroup and meet back up with Mikasa after being separated all day. Thank Maria, he could do with some rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the lovely comments and support you guys give me, always makes me happy to know people like my work. the next chapter maybe soon but no promises as i know this year is much more intense the the previous so ill write probably on easter or term breaks that way you can get edited work that is significantly longer.


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